Dr Josette Zerafa was born in Attard, Malta on the 3 May 1964.  She attended secondary school at St Monica’s College in Birkirkara and then proceeded to study languages at sixth form level at the New Lyceum in Msida. In 1983, Dr Zerafa started the law course at the University of Malta, graduating as notary in 1987 and obtaining her LLD in 1988. In 1993, Dr Zerafa obtained her MA in Contemporary West European Studies from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.

Following her graduation as a lawyer, Dr Zerafa started her career as legal officer within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she was immediately allocated to the European Community (EC) department. She was one of the founding members of the EC Directorate under the leadership of Dr Joe Borg, now European Commissioner. Thus she was involved in the preparations for Malta’s membership of the European Union from the very beginning. In 1996 she was appointed Senior Legal Officer at the same department and she was heavily involved in the vetting of legislation being drawn up by the Maltese government to ensure that such legislation was EU compliant. At the same time, with the coming into effect of the Maastricht Treaty and the coming into force of the third pillar of the European Union (Justice and Home Affairs), Dr Zerafa was involved from the early stages in the work relating to this new area of the EU, while continuing with her previous responsibilities.

In 1999 Dr Zerafa was appointed Director (Legal) within the European Union Affairs Directorate at the same Ministry. She became responsible for the legal aspects relating to EU accession but kept a special interest in justice and home affairs and continued working and monitoring this area personally, acting in constant liaison with the Ministry for Justice and the Ministry for Home Affairs. At this stage, Dr Zerafa was involved in the screening process of Malta’s legislation vis a` vis the EU acquis, in preparation for EU membership, and subsequently also in the negotiations that led to membership.

Following the closure of negotiations and with EU accession close at hand, in March 2004, Dr Zerafa was appointed to the post of Director EU Affairs within the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs, a post she holds until today.